The objectives of the 2-year Thinking Skills Project were to provide teachers and students with a set of thinking skills, to develop and validate a model of cognition for teachers, to devise a Measure of Questioning Skills, and to establish a normative base for this instrument. The model of essential thinking skills covers the basic processes: (1)…

Revolving around the theme of questioning in the classroom, the three articles in this newsletter are based on talks and workshop material drawn from the 1986 Summer Institute of the College Board's Educational EQuality Project. In the first article, "The Art of Questioning," Dennie Palmer Wolf points out that although most teachers feel…

The selection interview is a commonly used procedure for gathering applicant information upon which to base personnel decisions. Synder and Swann (1978) found that people tended to ask questions and generally seek information consistent with their initial beliefs about the person being interviewed. They suggested that this confirmatory questioning…

This paper suggests that library and information systems provide access to claims to knowledge rather than to knowledge or information and that such claims to knowledge are in fact claims to truth. The stated purpose of the paper is to explain why the library and information community should adhere to at least soft, if not hard, skepticism with…

A classroom technique, the "Educational Lure" provides activities for the preschool child to "cruise, choose, explore, and learn." The "lure" consists of an object or collection of objects brought into the school, usually by the teacher. It may be made up of generally unfamiliar objects, familiar objects rarely talked about, or familiar objects…

A study examined the effect of headings and adjunct questions embedded in an expository test on the delayed multiple-choice test performance of 88 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses. The subject of the passage read by the students was the settling of Anglo America; the subheadings in the passage listed names of major subtopics…

A framework for assessing the implementation and impact of office automation (OA) technology within shore-based facilities of the U.S. Navy is provided. Following a list of the assumptions guiding the evaluation plan, a model for data collection is presented which is based on the perspective of a work group, i.e., a small number of individuals who…

This manual provides assistance in developing and editing questions for the Medical Library Association General and Area of Concentration Examinations for Certification or Registration. After describing the certification procedures and the examination itself, suggestions for test item writers are provided, including preparing the item-as-a-whole,…

A technique to increase student participation in lecture classes and to learn about their reaction to the system was used in a large general experimental psychology course. Students were encouraged to submit questions in writing if they felt uncomfortable asking them in class. The students wrote their questions on a separate page in a small…

This paper introduces the use of self-assessed questions (SAQ) in interactive learning material. SAQs have two related but separate functions in learning materials: SAQs sustain the student's concentration and breaks up the text, and SAQs help the student assess progress of learning at a particular point in the material. Examples are given of…

The aim of this book is to assist people who use interviewing as a means of gathering information. It is a practical guide to more effective techniques and provides methods relevant to a variety of contexts. After a review of the psychological bases of interviewing, the types of interview are discussed as follows: (1) personal data reporting; (2)…

"The Holocaust" is an exercise designed to measure thinking processes of students in grades 8 through 12. It consists of a 14-minute videotape and a four-page handout describing the destruction of the European Jews. The exercise is based on an approach to measuring thinking suggested by the work of E. A. Peel (1971). Peel maintains that…

Reciprocal teaching is a form of dialogue in which students and teachers construct meaning from text. The teacher models the steps of the procedure and gradually encourages students to assume the role of "teacher." Reciprocal teaching involves four strategies which promote comprehension of the text: question-generating, summarizing,…

Some preliminary ideas on narrative inquiry in educational studies and educational reform are presented. Illustrations from Bay Street School (drawn from a 9-year research project on personal knowledge and narrative) are included. Since whatever may be said about narrative as method follows from its character as phenomenon, the aspects of…

This research assessed whether, within the context of a classroom session, the pattern of questioning and discussion used by teachers is related to the pattern of student responses. Clear and comprehensible linkages between questioning and answering behaviors were found in this study. These results indicate that researchers can help resolve the…